Ark: Survival Ascended Has Been Delayed to October

Studio Wildcard has been at work on Ark 2 for a while, but though the ambitious sequel is still a ways off from launch, it’s not the only thing the developer is focused on. Earlier this year, it announced Ark: Survival Ascended, a current-gen remaster of Ark: Survival Evolved built on Unreal Engine 5. Originally set to launch sometime in August though, the game has now been delayed by a couple of months.

In a recently published update, Studio Wildcard announced that Ark: Survival Ascended is being pushed back to October, with the developer stating that it has “found it challenging working with Unreal Engine 5.2”.

“We’re discovering new ways each day to push the technology to the next level; combined with the work needed to support a fully cross-platform-moddable game ecosystem on consoles and PC, it’s clear that we’ll need a bit more time,” the developer wrote.

Meanwhile, Studio Wildcard has also announced that its splitting the planned releases of remasters of Survival Evolved maps The Island and Scorched Earth. Originally set to release together, now, the latter has been delayed, and will be added to Survival Ascended in December, a couple of months on from its release.

“With what we’ve learned about remastering The Island from the ground-up, it wouldn’t be feasible to complete Scorched Earth to a standard we’re happy with,” the developer wrote.

The delayed launch of Survival Ascended also means that plans to sunset the original Survival Evolved have been pushed back as well. Studio Wildcard now plans to shut down the original title on September 30.

In addition, the developr has also announced a new pricing structure for Survival Ascended. Owing to the title launching with less content than previously anticipated, courtesy of the delay for Scorched Earth, it will now release at an early access price of $44.99, which will come down to $39.99 with a launch discount. Previously, it was confirmed to be a standalone $60 title.

Gameplay for the remaster will be shown close to release, Studio Wildcard has confirmed.

Ark: Survival Ascended is in development for PS5, Xbox Series X/S, and PC. Ark 2, which is in development for Xbox Series X/S and PC, is set to launch in late 2024.